A  SKETCH  OF 


By  ISABEL  HART 


‘Price,  Two  Cents 


Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary  Society 
"  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 

36  Bromfield  Street,  Boston,  Mass. 


MARY  LYON 

C  v 

“Their  works  do  follow  them.” 

In  studying  the  history  of  strong  and  noble  lives, 
they  will  frequently  be  found  crystallizing  around 
some  central  thought  or  purpose,  which  if  we 
may  discover  we  will  have  found  the  keynote 
by  which  those  lives  were  toned  and  tuned. 

Florence  Nightingale,  when  asked  the  secret  of 
her  heroic  achievements,  said,  “It  only  shows  what 
God  can  do  with  an  ordinary  woman,  who  never 
says  no  to  him  in  anything.”  And  Mary  Lyon 
who  sent  out  from  the  influence  of  her  teaching 
over  three  thousand  Christian  women  and  workers, 
many  of  them  to  be  light-bearers  in  the  dark  places 
and  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth,  said,  toward 
the  close  of  her  grandly  useful  life,  “  There  is  but 
one  thing  I  fear  in  all  the  universe ,  that  I  shall  not 
know  all  my  duty  or  fail  in  doing  it”  She  sought 
by  all  the  means  open  to  her  to  know  all  of  God’s 
will  concerning  her.  And  knowing  this,  she  was 
true,  and  brave,  and  persistent  in  following  its 
leadings.  She  was  not  disobedient  to  the  heavenly 
vision.  This  tells  the  whole  story. 

Mary  Lyon  was  born  in  Buckland,  Mass., 
February  28,  1797,  of  sterling,  sturdy,  pious  New 
England  stock.  From  early  years  she  evidenced 
remarkable  mental  activity,  with  ardor  in  the 
acquisition  of  knowledge,  and  a  memory  retentive 
of  these  acquisitions.  As  she  grew  older,  working 
and  teaching  alternated  with  her  studies,  that  she 

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might  have  the  necessary  means  for  their  further 
prosecution. 

Of  the  highest  type  of  teachers  it  is  somewhat 
true  as  of  poets  —  they  are  born,  not  made.  Such 
a  teacher  was  Mary  Lyon.  She  magnified  her 
calling.  In  it  she  glorified  her  Father,  and,  as 
always  follows,  he  glorified  her.  Thoroughness 
of  instruction,  firmness  with  gentleness  of  discipline, 
a  loving  spirit,  beauty  of  life,  bore  their  appro¬ 
priate  fruit  in  the  type  of  womanhood  moulded 
by  her  formative  hands. 

Six  years  were  spent  at  Ipswich  in  delightful 
association  with  her  loved  friend,  Miss  Grant, 
and  in  labors  which  brought  their  rich  reward  in 
the  honor  accorded  her,  in  the  affection  she  won, 
and  above  all  in  the  young  women  growing  into 
well-developed  Christian  characters  and  going 
out  into  positions  of  usefulness  in  the  Master’s 
vineyard. 

it  was  not  easy  to  resign  a  position  so  secure, 
associations  so  congenial,  work  so  satisfactory: 
and  yet,  if  anywhere  was  a  post  where  she  was 
more  needed,  and  of  greater  difficulty  to  fill,  work 
whose  scope  would  be  larger  even  if  its  exactions 
would  be  greater  —  if  anywhere  in  the  teaching 
field  there  was  greater  want,  and  for  herself  greater 
usefulness  —  that,  Mary  Lyon  knew,  was  her 
place. 

That  place  and  that  work  were  very  clearly  re¬ 
vealed  to  her.  It  should  be  the  foundation  of  a 
permanent  seminary,  large  in  its  scope,  small  in 
its  cost,  high  in  its  aims,  through  which  the  hun¬ 
dreds  now  deprived  of  the  highest  educational 
advantages  because  of  their  expense  might  obtain 
them.  A  seminary  which  should  afford  the  best 
advantages  of  intellectual  culture  at  smallest  cost, 

3 


and  should  be  most  distinctive  in  the  consecra¬ 
tion  of  all  its  teaching  and  association  and  influ¬ 
ence  to  the  advancement  of  the  Redeemer’s  king¬ 
dom.  Mental  culture  of  the  best  was  to  be  fur¬ 
nished,  but  mental  culture  not  as  an  end,  but  as 
a  means,  that  thereby  those  receiving  it  might  be 
fitted  for  higher  usefulness  and  better  service. 

But  how  was  this  conception  to  be  embodied 
and  this  purpose  materialized?  Mary  Lyon  was 
no  enthusiast,  or  rather  her  enthusiasm  was  of  the 
type  that  clarifies  the  brain  and  energizes  the 
will,  that  stimulates  to  earnestness  of  action,  and 
dedication  of  self.  She  had  learned  the  obedience 
of  faith  and  the  patience  of  hope.  Believing 
the  work  to  be  of  God,  and  herself  called  to  do  it, 
looking  to  him  she  at  once  sought  the  means 
through  which  it  must  be  matured. 

Several  things  were  necessary.  Funds  were 
to  be  collected  for  the  erection  and  furnishing  of 
buildings,  that  should  be  placed  in  the  hands  of 
trustees  of  broad  and  liberal  views,  who  would 
take  supervision  and  responsibility  in  the  matter. 
Teachers  of  like  spirit  with  herself  must  be  found 
who  would  work  from  the  same  high  plane  of 
motive  for  the  same  high  ends,  and  with  small 
consideration  for  salaries.  Pupils  who  would  be 
willing  to  live  simply,  and  be  economical  in  all 
their  expenditures,  doing  all  the  domestic  work, 
for  economy’s  sake  first,  and  also  because  of  the 
practical  benefit  to  themselves,  and  that  inde¬ 
pendence  of  servants  might  be  maintained;  and 
all  were  to  live  together  and  work  together  in  the 
true  missionary  spirit,  in  the  spirit  of  self-denial, 
each  looking  not  on  her  own  things,  but  also  on 
the  things  of  others. 

Did  all  this  seem  Utopian?  The  world  has 

4 


frequently  found  that  the  dreams  of  lofty  spirits 
have  become  the  most  substantial  and  saving 
facts  in  its  history. 

Miss  Lyon  had  but  small  funds  and  few  friends 
of  influence  and  means.  But  her  human  capital 
was  the  strong  confidence  of  the  communities  in 
which  she  had  lived  and  taught,  and  the  thor¬ 
ough  devotion  of  the  young  women  who  had  been 
under  her  care,  and  her  reserve  force  was  faith 
in  God.  It  would  be  interesting  to  note  how  this 
great  enterprise  grew;  how  wisely  Miss  Lyon 
planned;  how  earnestly  she  toiled;  how  she  trav¬ 
eled,  and  wrote,  and  pled,  and  prayed;  and  how 
one  after  another  of  true,  staunch  friends  were  en¬ 
listed;  how  first  believing  in  her  they  were  led  to 
believe  in  the  work  she  represented  —  how  godly 
men,  who  held  themselves  stewards  of  the  Lord’s 
funds  came  to  see  in  it  the  Lord’s  work,  to  which 
their  funds  and  their  personal  service  were  cheer¬ 
fully  devoted;  how  pious  women  put  in  it  of  their 
hard  earnings  and  savings;  how  her  former  pupils 
rallied  around  her  and  her  work. 

We  may  not  note  all  the  steps  in  this  process, 
from  September  6,  1834,  when  a  few  gentlemen 
gathered  in  the  private  parlor  at  Ipswich  to  devise 
ways  and  means  for  founding  a  permanent  female 
seminary  upon  principles  and  for  purposes  in 
harmony  with  her  views,  to  October,  1836,  when 
the  cornerstone  was  laid — to  November  8,  1837, 
when  with  a  glad,  grateful  hearo,  sne  opened  its 
doors  to  receive  the  students  who  so  eagerly  came 
to  share  its  benefits. 

Probably  the  distinguishing  features  of  the 
school  —  distinguished  it  above  all  others  of  which 
I  have  any  knowledge  —  were  the  frequent,  genu¬ 
ine,  general  revivals  of  religion  which  were  longed 

5 


and  looked  and  labored  for  with  an  intensity  which, 
rightly  studied,  would  do  much  to  solve  the  mooted 
problem  how  to  promote  revivals?  Secondly, 
that  thorough  missionary  spirit  which  was  only 
the  complete  logical  development  of  the  principle 
on  which  the  school  was  founded  —  the  greatest 
service  to  the  greatest  number  in  the  greatest 
need  —  and  as  the  outcome  of  which,  nearly  a 
hundred  graduates  of  Mt.  Holyoke  have  been 
found  in  our  various  mission  fields. 

These  revival  seasons  —  it  would  be  blessed 
to  trace  their  genesis  and  progress  and  results. 
Few  could  say  with  the  emphasis  and  fullness  of 
meaning  of  Mary  Lyon — “I  believe  in  the  Holy 
Ghost,”  and  few  have  that  simple  reliance  on 
prayer  as  the  certain  means  of  securing  a  mani¬ 
festation  for  Him.  All  the  schedules  of  regular 
school  time  and  work  were  arranged  with  reference 
to  this  —  the  silent-hour  morning  and  evening, 
devoted  to  meditation  and  prayer  —  the  recess 
hour,  when  pupils  voluntarily  gathered  in  the  rooms 
of  the  various  teachers  for  brief,  simple,  devotional 
services  —  the  rich  exposition  of  Scripture  that 
Saturday  and  Sabbath,  and  thrice  during  the  week, 
came  from  the  earnest  study  and  loving  heart 
of  the  Principal.  These  were  in  the  regular  order, 
and  all  hearts  thus  prepared,  how  naturally  came 
those  remarkable  seasons  of  grace  which  year  after 
year  swept  the  school. 

Of  course,  missionary  zeal  could  not  fail  to  be 
the  outcome  of  such  culture,  such  consecration, 
such  revivals;  and  so  speedily  it  became  the  very 
nursery  of  missionaries.  Missionary  meetings 
were  regularly  held  with  the  two-fold  purpose 
of  giving  information  concerning  the  cause  and  of 
stimulating  to  gifts  of  substance  and  of  self.  Mary 

6 


Lyon’s  own  soul  was  aflame  with  missionary  zeal. 
Few  appeals  have  been  more  fervent  than  the 
“Missionary  Offering”  that  came  from  her  pen, 
of  which  she  said  she  wrote  of  it  because  her  heart 
was  so  full  that  she  could  not  but  write. 

The  young  women  at  Mt.  Holyoke  were  gener¬ 
ally  from  families  of  small  means  —  as  it  was  es¬ 
tablished  for  the  benefit  of  such.  The  salaries 
of  the  teachers  varied  from  #125  to  $200,  Miss 
Lyon  herself  absolutely  refusing  to  receive  more 
than  the  latter  amount  —  even  while  her  ability 
in  planning,  managing,  financiering,  teaching, 
would  have  commanded  the  highest  salary.  But 
from  those  thus  conditioned  the  annual  missionary 
offering  was  from  $600  to  $1,100.  The  luxury 
of  doing  good  in  this  way  they  could  not  dispense 
with.  But  these  are  the  least  gifts  made  by  the 
institution  to  the  missionary  cause.  Continually 
there  have  been  going  out  from  its  doors  its  daugh¬ 
ters,  pervaded  with  its  spirit,  carrying  therefrom 
that  spirit  and  to  a  degree  reduplicating  its  work 
in  the  remotest  parts  of  the  earth.  The  first 
year  one  of  the  number  went  to  Zulu,  Africa. 
Every  senior  class  for  more  than  fifteen  years 
had  one  or  more  representatives  in  the  mission 
field.  To  none  was  accorded  higher  usefulness 
and  honor  than  to  Fidelia  Fiske,  who  went  thence 
to  Oroomiah,  Persia,  in  1843.  Her  associate, 
Miss  Rice,  came  from  the  same  school,  with  the 
benediction  of  the  same  teacher,  in  1847. 

In  the  records  of  1846  we  find  the  simple  notice, 
“Miss  Abigail  Moore,  Miss  Lucy  Lyon,  and  Miss 
Martha  Chapin  were  transferred  from  their  work 
in  the  seminary  to  the  more  needy  field  in  Asia. 
They  had  for  some  years  engaged  in  aiding  others 
to  prepare  for  the  work  of  the  Lord  among  the 

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heathen.  They  now  entered  on  it  themselves. 
The  two  latter  were  aifectionate  and  beloved 
nieces  of  Mary  Lyon.” 

One  feature  of  the  seminary  was  the  constant 
communication  kept  up  vith  these,  its  living 
links,  in  various  lands.  A  journal  was  kept  of 
the  doings  there  and  copies  sent  to  these  far-off 
daughters,  while  from  them  would  come  back 
letters  from  the  wilds  of  America,  from  the  islands 
of  the  sea,  from  Persia,  India,  China,  Africa  —  an 
electric  chain  binding  closely  together  these  scat¬ 
tered  forces,  and  binding  all  to  a  common  center  — 
Christ. 

March  5,  1849,  Mary  Lyon  closed  her  earthly 
career.  Those  who  were  with  her  most  intimately 
noted  how  she  was  ripening,  not  knowing  it  was 
for  glory. 

The  end  crowns  the  work.  But  the  end  is  not 
yet.  Not  until  the  records  of  all  time,  made  up 
from  all  lands,  are  written  —  not  until  from  the 
East  and  West  and  North  and  South  are  gathered 
those  saved  through  her  instrumentality  and 
through  the  instrumentality  of  those  whom  she 
trained,  and  those  trained  by  them  to  remotest 
ages;  not  until  the  farthest  wave  of  influence  shall 
have  struck  on  the  shores  of  eternity,  can  the 
complete  crown  of  honor  and  rejoicing  be  put 
upon  'that  humble,  devoted  life,  whose  wisdom 
was  in  turning  many  to  righteousness,  and  whose 
glory  was  to  so  train  them  that  with  like  wisdom 
they  might  engage  in  like  work.  Until  then  her 
stars  remain  uncounted.  Yet  here  and  now  may 
we  read  —  three  thousand  women  thus  taught; 
scores  of  missionaries  thus  sent.  Surely  the 
noblest  inscription  is  what  her  stone  records: 

“Give  her  of  the  fruits  of  her  hands  and  let  her  own 
works  praise  her  in  the  gates” 


